Overbay powers Blue Jays past Orioles 5-4

Video

TORONTO (AP) -- Even Lyle Overbay is stunned by Toronto's
escalating home run totals.

Overbay hit a game-ending drive in the 11th inning and the
slugging Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles 5-4 on Saturday.

Edwin Encarnacion, Aaron Hill and Travis Snider added solo
drives for the Blue Jays, who lead the major leagues with 241
home runs this season, including a baseball-best 140 at home.
Toronto hit a team-record 244 homers in 2000.

"It's ridiculous," Overbay said. "I've never been on a team like
this that just consistently hits homers. That's what we do,
homers, doubles and strikeouts."

The Blue Jays have 305 doubles and 1,112 strikeouts. Entering
play Saturday, they were third in the majors in two-base hits
and, among AL teams, only Cleveland, Seattle and Tampa Bay had
fanned more often.

The Blue Jays have won 13 straight home games against the
Orioles, and 22 of 24 at the Rogers Centre against Baltimore.
The Orioles' last victory in Toronto was a 7-5 win on Aug. 7,
2009.

Overbay won it with a leadoff drive to right on the second pitch
he saw from Mark Hendrickson (1-6). It was Overbay's 20th homer,
making him the fifth Blue Jays player to reach the mark this
season.

"He missed his spot and left it over the middle of the plate,"
Overbay said.

Overbay said manager Cito Gaston urged him to swing for the
fences before his winning shot.

"He came up to me and said 'Don't be afraid to get your 20th
right now,"' Overbay said. "I was like, all right."

David Purcey (1-1), the seventh Toronto pitcher, worked a
scoreless inning for the win.

Baltimore's Ty Wigginton hit his 22nd homer off Casey Janssen in
the seventh, but Encarnacion tied it at 4 with a drive to center
off Jeremy Guthrie in the bottom half.

"That's a hard lineup to go through and I thought (Guthrie)
pitched very effectively for the most part," Orioles manager
Buck Showalter said. "Mistakes get magnified, especially in this
ballpark. I went out to the mound and the wind just about picked
you up and took you out. The ball is flying out of here whether
it's open, closed or sideways. And they don't need any help.
They certainly have enough power as it is."

Like his manager, Guthrie said the cool, breezy afternoon made
pitching difficult at times.

"You know what, it was crazy," Guthrie said. "I was not
comfortable on the mound with how hard it was blowing in my
face. It was blowing hard enough to the point where I felt like
it would even take some of my pitches and push against them."

Encarnacion's 16th homer denied Guthrie his first victory in
Toronto since June 7, 2008. The right-hander allowed four runs
and seven hits in 6 1-3 innings.

"Every one of their guys is a threat," Guthrie said. "If you
leave a pitch up, they have a chance to go deep."

Guthrie eclipsed 200 innings for the second straight season, the
first Orioles pitcher to accomplish the feat since Mike Mussina
and Sidney Ponson in 1999 and 2000.

"To take on that responsibility of getting deep in games and
constantly feeling confident that he can give the bullpen a
little blow, that's huge," Showalter said. "Even though it may
not seem like it in the season we've had as a whole, that's
impressive."

Mike Gonzalez came on after Jose Molina followed Encarnacion's
drive with a single to right. Mike McCoy ran for Molina and
stole second after Travis Snider struck out. Yunel Escobar
walked but Gonzalez escaped by striking out major league home
run leader Jose Bautista.

The Blue Jays got the winning run to second with one out in the
ninth but Jim Johnson threw a called third strike past John Buck
and got Snider to ground out, sending it to extra innings.

Toronto's Vernon Wells made the defensive play of the game, a
running, leaping catch to snare Wigginton's liner to center in
the ninth.

Baltimore used three hits and three walks to score three times
in the second against Ricky Romero. Brandon Snyder hit an RBI
double before Julio Lugo and Nick Markakis each drew
bases-loaded walks.

Hill replied with his 25th homer in the bottom half and Snider
cut it to 3-2 with a one-out drive to right in the third, his
11th.

Romero allowed three runs and five hits in five innings, putting
him over 200 innings for the first time. He matched a season
high by walking five and struck out three.

The Orioles loaded the bases against Brian Tallet with one out
in the sixth, but came up empty when Brian Roberts flied out and
Lugo struck out looking.

Toronto tied it at 3 in the bottom half when Overbay hit a
bases-loaded sacrifice fly.

Bautista also made a pretty defensive play, diving to catch Adam
Jones' liner to right in the fifth, then throwing to first to
double off Wigginton. It was his 12th outfield assist.

NOTES: Lugo started for the first time since Sept. 4 after being
sidelined by recurring headaches. Lugo's last appearance came
Sept. 10, when he pinch ran against Detroit. He started at DH.
... Baltimore RHP Rick VandenHurk will come out of the bullpen
Sunday to make his first start of the season against Toronto RHP
Shaun Marcum. ... Orioles C Matt Wieters was held out of the
starting lineup for the second straight game, but is expected to
start Sunday.